Cribs: Daegu, South Korea Edition

Private Tour…

Close your eyes and picture this…
You arrive at a building, where the entrance and first floor are also the residents’ parking spaces. Across the street, a black goat is tied to a door frame, and stands regally watching all traffic passing by. The street is quiet, except for the bleating of the goat. You walk to the entrance of the building, where you must enter a code into the keypad. Walk through, take a deep breath, and begin climbing the stairs to the 4th floor (each time gets a bit easier). You come to the door of your apartment, where you must enter a new access code.

You then enter a entrance way, where you must remove your shoes, and can place them in the convenient closet to your right. To your left is the entrance into the rest of the apartment. Barefoot, you walk into the grand dining room, with a table and 2 chairs, a blue bookcase, as well as a closet for your clothing. Walk towards the closet, open the sliding doors on your right, and there is your kitchen. It is small, and simple: stove top, sink, and refrigerator. Make sure to wash your hands, and take off your mask!

Walking back through the dining room, you slide the doors dividing the bedroom and tv area, bathroom, and laundry room. The bed is a single, and the tv area contains 2 couch sectionals . The bathroom is small, but practical, with the shower in the same space as the toilet and sink, without dividers. The laundry room hides behind more sliding doors, and provides additional space for storage, a washer, and a drying rack, as well as a window to wave at the bleating black goat!

I count myself lucky for this apartment. Its a decent size for 1 person, and already had the basic necessities waiting for me. The heating system works through the floor, as well as heating the water. It is easy to operate, and I tend to leave on just water heating capabilities, as the weather is feeling more like early spring and I prefer sleeping in cold air. I tend to leave windows open to keep fresh air circulating.

Dalseong & Gachang Neighborhoods

Due to voluntary self quarantine, I have not had an opportunity to properly explore the neighborhood I will be calling “Home” for this next year. I try to go out for an hour each afternoon or so, to get fresh air and just observe. The important thing is to avoid crowds, and always be prepared with mask and hand sanitizer. There is a small mountain hiking trail less than half a mile from my place. I went up some of the steps but did not want to go too far, as it would be dark soon, and the path was a bit unclear. I will try again at an earlier hour next week.

There are convenience stores too conveniently located for me. They look like your basic gas station store (think small, not Sheetz). They serve fried chicken on sticks, and these are delicious. I’ve made those my dinner a few nights this past week, to give myself a break from ramen and cabbage. They also serve cold sandwiches of egg salad, blts, among other options. Everything I have tried from the 7/11s or GS25s have been good quality food! Within a 10 minute walk, there is a fast food restaurant called Lotteria, and a small grocery store. On the street where I live, there is a small street market, where people sell various vegetables and fish. I have not ventured to buy things from there, yet.

The most important discovery for me is knowing I live just off the Steamed Buns Street. Every few shops is an on-street steamed buns and dumplings shop. The majority offer savory, but some offer sweet donut-like breads as well. These shops prepare their buns and dumplings all day long, inside. Each bun or dumpling is hand filled and closed. People line up outside, where the steaming station is, and place their orders.
Buns are sold in sets of 4, dumplings in sets of 10. The prices do not seem to vary between the shops, so it seems to be a person’s loyalty and a shops quality that keeps customers coming back.

The attendant receives your order, and grabs the requested items, and steams them in front of you. It is an impressive show to watch. They can be handling 10 different orders at one time, and they keep tabs on which steaming dish is holding which item. It reminds me of the game where you hide a penny under 1 cup, and then move multiple cups around to try and confuse the player where the penny is hiding.

I look forward to giving you more detailed reports of interesting offerings of my neighborhood, and the city of Daegu as I have more chances to explore!